Best Friends Forever
by DemonBrightSpirit
Summary: A terrible accident leaves one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders clinging to life. While some fight hard to save her, others kowtow to fate, mournfully accepting the inevitable. Is it still possible for her to be saved? Can one's existence persist after life, or is death the end? And just what is that ethereal thing called a soul?
1. Between a Roc and a High Place

"Do you guys really think this is a good idea?" Sweetie Belle asked. With a hint of trepidation, she glanced down. A surge of regret lurched in her stomach as her gaze fixated on the jagged cliffs extending so far below her that she convinced herself that there was no ground way, way, way down there.

A tether attached to Sweetie's vest linked her to a similar vest on Scootaloo, who clung to the cliffside just a few feet above her. The link also led up to Applebloom above Scootaloo. Finally, the tether ended on an Earth Pony colt's vest, who headed the group. "It's not much further!" the grey colt shouted down. He looked back up, shaking the errant black hair from his vision.

"Come on, Sweetie," Scootaloo said, tugging on the cord to get Sweetie to look back up. "We're sure that Hoof Follow's talent has gotta be mountain climbing!"

"Ain't'cha excited?" Apple Bloom asked, inching up behind Hoof Follow. "If he gets his mark, it'll be the tenth cutie mark the Cutie Mark Crusaders've helped somepony get."

The tether reached its limit, forcing Sweetie to follow after the other three. "I think I'd be more excited if, you know, maybe we were a little lower."

"Oh, come on, our sisters climbed this hill months ago. And back then, there was a dragon at the top!" Apple Bloom said.

"Hill? You call this a hill!" Sweetie retorted.

As Scootaloo continued to follow the other two, her rear hoof loosed a rock, sending it tumbling into Sweetie's snout. "Wait, why didn't Rainbow Dash just fly up and take care of that dragon?"

Sweetie flinched, shaking her head. It did little to ease the unpleasant sting in her snout. Then, she sneezed, her hooves slipping from the cliff.

"I dunno. It was probably one of those 'friendship problem' things they're always doin'," Apple Bloom replied. The tether attached to her vest sped through the loop until it reached its limit. Lurching, Apple Bloom managed to hold onto the cliff.

"Everypony okay?" Hoof Follow asked, looking down. While Apple Bloom and Scootaloo held steadfastly, Sweetie dangled beneath them, holding her snout as she hung by the tether.

"A-okay!" Apple Bloom sounded off.

"I'm fine," Scootatloo said.

"I'll be okay," Sweetie said, a nasal tone to her voice. The rest didn't even wait for her to recover. She slowly lifted up as the trio climbed the cliff above her.

Hoof Follow reached up. Instead of finding a sheer cliff, his leg looped up onto an outcropping. "Hey! I think we made it!"

"It's probably just another ledge," Scootaloo replied, a bit of annoyance lacing her tone.

"I don't care if it is," Sweetie said, her hooves again finding the sheer wall of rock. "Can we take a break?"

"It's the summit!" Hoof Follow shouted down. He hoofed up Apple Bloom, and together the duo helped Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle up to the plateau.

Panting a bit, Scootaloo trotted around the rim. "Wow, I don't think I've ever been this high. This might even be higher than Cloudsdale!"

Sweetie put on a weak smile. "Did you get your cutie mark?"

Hoof Follow looked back at his flank, only to find it woefully bare.

Apple Bloom placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey, don't give up. I couldn't tell yah how many times it took us to get our marks."

"Yeah, but aren't our marks supposed to be about helping other ponies with their marks?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Come on." She reached into her pack and pulled out a rod. "Let's get the flag set up and we can head back down."

Sweetie pointed to a nearby path, far, far away from the sheer edge they just climbed. "Please tell me we can take the path down this time."

"That'd be too easy," Apple Bloom said, pulling another rod from Sweetie's pack and affixing them to each other.

"Ugh, let's just get this over with," Scootaloo said, trotting over with a rod of her own. Without even looking, she tossed it over to Apple Bloom, who merged it with the other two to complete the flagpole.

Hoof Follow chuckled as he pulled out a flag emblazoned with the Cutie Mark Crusaders' emblem. "You know, they say that climbing down is more dangerous than climbing up." Accepting the pole from Apple Bloom, he ran over to the nearby cave, and effortlessly scaled to the top.

There, at the highest point on the mountain, he held the flag up to the sky. "I hereby claim this mountain in the name of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" With a surge of force, he sunk the flagpole into the rocks. As he stood triumphant, the Cutie Mark Crusaders stomped in applause.

A flash of brilliant light shone down from the mountaintop. Coalescing on Hoof Follow's flank, the light faded to reveal a permanent image on his flank. It depicted a snowcapped peak with a nondescript flag protruding from the top.

Gasping, Sweetie pointed up at Hoof Follow's flank. "Hoof, look! You got your cutie mark!"

"Huh?" Hoof looked back, his hind hoof raising off the ground as he looked at his newly-adorned flank.

"Yes! We did it!" Apple Bloom cheered. Together, the Cutie Mark Crusaders high-hoofed.

"Ha ha! This is so awesome!" Hoof said, sliding down and around the cave. "Thanks, Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

"All in a day's work," Scootaloo said with a smug grin.

"See?" Apple Bloom said as she turned to Sweetie Belle. "This was all totally worth it."

Sweetie smiled and gave a nod. "Yeah."

Just as Hoof First rejoined the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a violent gust nearly threw the entire group off of their hooves. The group struggled to regain their balance as an otherworldly screech tore through them, emanating from the blackened depths of the cave.

"Anypony else get the feeling that we might've woken something big and scary up?" Scootaloo asked as she and her friends backed away from the cave.

"Come on!" Apple Bloom pointed to the path leading down the mountain. "Run for it!"

As the group fled, an eagle nearly too big to fit crawled out from the cave. Spreading its wings, it gave another screech. A mighty burst from its wings propelled it into the sky and sent the fillies and colts tumbling head over hoof.

The heap of ponies quickly got back to their hooves and back to running. They scrambled onto the narrow path cutting through the mountain with a sheer wall to one side and a deep crevice on the other. On the other side of the chasm, another sheer wall reached toward the sky. "What is that thing!" Sweetie Belle screeched.

Apple Bloom shook her head. "I dunno. All I know is that it's big and scary, and I don't think it's happy with us!" A massive, black shadow swept over the group. "Get out of the open! We gotta hide!"

An enormous talon reached for the group. It crashed down, sending Apple Bloom and Hoof Follow careening toward the cliffside as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle dove in the opposite direction. Solid rock gave way like dough under the sheer force of the bird's talons. Then, the dust, rocks, and boulders rained down, falling from the raptor's slackened grasp.

Finding shelter under an outcropping, Apple Bloom huddled against Hoof Follow. "Everypony okay?" she shouted, daring to peek out and up.

Scootaloo helped Sweetie Belle up into a tree's boughs just across the path. The tree grew out over the deep, narrow crevice, a few jutting branches nearly touching the sheer cliff on the other side of the gap. "Yeah. Is it gone?"

An ear-piercing screech answered Scootaloo's question and sent the groups back into hiding. The ground shook as the great beast landed. The shaking nearly threw Sweetie out of the tree, but Scootaloo managed to grab her and hold her steady near the trunk. Holding a hoof up to her muzzle, Scootaloo urged silence as the bird's gaze swept back and forth along the path.

Over at the outcropping, Apple Bloom cowered next to Hoof Follow. She dared to glance toward the fearsome beast, and her heart skipped a beat. There, just outside the shelter of the ledge, lay her bow, right out in plain sight for the giant bird to see.

If it saw the bow, it just might realize their hiding spot. Taking a deep breath, she leaned over and outstretched her leg towards the bow. Her hoof found the ribbon, and she slowly drew it back in. Only once she had her bow safely out of sight did she dare to close her eyes and exhale.

She opened her eyes, and her heart stopped. An amber eye larger than her whole body stared back at her. It blinked, then disappeared. A deafening screech shook the mountain.

"Run!" Apple Bloom shouted.

Massive talons ripped through the rock, gouging out the hiding place. In the rubble, Apple Bloom and Hoof Follow managed to slip out on either side of the enormous beast. Hoof Follow spilled over the edge, and into the rift.

"Hoof Follow!" Sweetie shrieked from the boughs of the trees. Acting on instinct, she reached out toward the falling colt. Only a firm hoof from Scootaloo kept her secure in the tree.

Hoof Follow managed to land a hoof on the sheer rock wall, sending out a spray of dust and pebbles. Then another hoof, and another. Finally, his descent stopped as he clung to the cliffside. "I-I'm okay!" he shouted up at the trio of fillies. His eyes narrowed. "Look out!"

The tree holding Sweetie and Scootaloo violently shook as the bird crashed into it. Tipping in a flurry of feathers, the tree leaned out over the crevice, its roots reaching up and releasing their hold on the rock. Only once the tree was nearly horizontal did the deepest of roots keep it from falling in.

Flying back to land on the path, the bird eyed the fillies. Its head turned to the side as it hesitated. It flapped its wings, launching toward the crevice, but it could do little more than hover over the narrow fissure. The walls on either side prevented it from maneuvering much at all with its gargantuan wingspan.

"I-I don't think it can reach us," Scootaloo said, desperately clinging to a branch.

"G-g-good birdie," Sweetie said. "No need to e-eat us. Please go home?"

The bird lunged forward, snapping its enormous beak. Despite its best efforts, it couldn't reach the girls, though it did manage to nearly bite halfway through the thick tree trunk. Again retreating to the safety of the path, the bird spat out the splintered wood.

Several splintered shards of wood, each one easily the size of a spear, smashed along the path and toward Apple Bloom. The filly jumped away from the cliff wall and back into the middle of the path, barely avoiding becoming an Apple Bloom shishkebab. Her desperate leap left her shoulder to absorb the brunt of the fall and causing her head to pound into the solid stone.

As Apple Bloom lay motionless on the ground, Scootaloo began to tread across the fallen tree's trunk. "Come on, Sweetie," she whispered back at the cowering white filly. "We gotta get off this thing before it falls in!"

Sweetie watched as a hunk of bark slipped from under Scootaloo's hoof and into the abyss. Shaking her head, she redoubled her grip on the branch supporting her. "I-I can't!"

"Scootaloo! It's coming back!"

Scootaloo looked up after Hoof's shout, seeing the tyrannical bird stomping back toward the fallen tree. Each step sent a shockwave through the rock, tugging at the roots that perilously held the tree in place. Taking a fleeting glance back at Hoof Follow, Scootaloo made a snap decision. Crouching down on her haunches, she jumped free from the tree and beat her wings with all her might.

Her legs sent her in the right direction, but for all of her efforts, gravity still won out over her wings. The rock wall and the relative safety it offered seemed to flit away as it became apparent that she wasn't going to reach. In futile desperation, she extended her hooves toward the rushing wall of rock.

"Got you!"

A grey hoof wrapped around Scootaloo's. Hoof Follow's other three hooves dug into the cliff wall as all of Scootaloo's weight pulled down. A shower of rocks burst from beneath Hoof's grip as Scootaloo's weight pulled him down. His hindhooves slipped over the rolling stone, and he swung out, clinging by a single hoof to the rock wall as he still held fast to Scootaloo.

"Don't let go!" Scootaloo begged as she grasped Follow's hoof.

Grunting, Hoof looked up to find his hold stable. "Okay," he said, licking his lips as he looked back down at Scootaloo, "I need you to swing over and get a good hoofhold on the cliff. Can you do that?"

Scootaloo looked down. Gulping, she turned her eyes to the cliff. "I-I think so!" She twisted her body a bit and gave her wings a buzz, swinging her back over. With Hoof holding her, she was able to use her wings to guide her to the sheer rock wall. One hoof at a time, she grabbed on to the rock. "I got it," she said, her voice exuding relief. "I got it."

Above them, the enormous raptor extended its beak as far down the crevice, snapping uselessly at the duo. The deadly beak bit at the air several yards above their heads. They were safe.

"Hey! Climb down!" Hoof yelled up at Sweetie and Apple Bloom. "It can't get us down here, and it looks like we can get all the way down to the ground from here!"

"I-I can't! It'll get me!" Sweetie shouted back, clinging tightly to the same branch.

"I think you might be safe. It can't get you either," Scootaloo replied. "Can you see Apple Bloom? Is she okay?"

Sweetie Belle looked back over to see Apple Bloom stumbling up to her hooves. "I-I'm okay, I think," Apple Bloom said. No sooner did the words leave her mouth, did the enormous bird snap its attention straight to her. Her eyes widened as her pupils shrank. "Uh-oh."

The bird stomped back, rattling the already precarious tree. "Get in the crevice! Climb down, hurry!" Sweetie Belle shouted. As she did, a loud crack sounded. The spot where the bird bit out a chunk cracked through, splinters jutting upward as the tree threatened to split in half. The boughs weighed down, slowly lowering as the crack spread. Finally relinquishing the branch, Sweetie scrambled across the trunk, even as her trek turned uphill. Her hooves scraped along the bark as the wood let out a long, whining crack. Then, the entire top of the tree fell into the abyss.

Hanging perilously to the jutting splinters, Sweetie Belle watched the treetop fall deep into the chasm until it finally disappeared from sight. She tried to pull herself up, her hind legs uselessly kicking air, but for all her efforts, all she succeeded in doing was to further loosen the roots holding up what remained of the tree. An otherworldly screech tore her attention back to the path and her imperiled friend.

Scrambling toward the ledge, Apple Bloom barely managed to duck under the bird's beak. The beak crashed into the solid rock, splitting it and sending out a shower of stones. Apple Bloom tumbled away, skidding over the ledge. Her forelegs managed to find a hold on the very edge. A powerful wind nearly knocked her off of the cliff entirely.

Apple Bloom peeked over the edge to find… nothing. The bird was gone. Then, a black shadow fell over her. She looked up to see two sets of gigantic talons falling on her. She flinched, expecting to be ripped apart, but instead, the oversized talons fell all around her. They closed in around her, shredding through the solid stone.

The crushing grind of stone-on-stone somehow left Apple Bloom unharmed as she fell free from the raptor's grasp. Her relief left her almost immediately as she watched the path rise up above her. The sensation of wind whipping by her tore through her with the realization that she was falling into the nearly-bottomless abyss.

Then, the wind stopped. Apple Bloom dared to look, only to find everything tinted a green color. Her descent stopped. Looking up, she found Sweetie Belle, still dangling from the trunk, using her horn to hold her from falling to her doom. Slowly, the cliff wall approached, and Apple Bloom was able to get a solid hold on the rock wall.

A tentative smile spread over Apple Bloom's face as she realized that, at last, she was safe. "Thanks, Sweetie," she hollered up, "that was too close!"

"Yeah," Sweetie replied, tentatively clawing her her way up onto the trunk. "Just gotta—"

"Look out!"

The simultaneous shout spurred Sweetie to look up just in time to see talons big enough to dwarf spears clenching down on her. The razor-sharp claws fell just in front of her, wrapping around the trunk of the tree. With the deafening sound of an explosion, the tree trunk shattered into a million splinters, and the wood beneath Sweetie's hooves gave way.

Falling backwards, she watched the enormous bird retreat into the sky. Her friends rushed up by her, disappearing in but a moment's time along with their panicked shouts. Even the light seemed to retreat until nothing remained but her painfully pounding heart, the rushing sound of air, and the spinning splinters that accompanied her. Then, nothing.

* * *

Hearing the sound of the entry bell, Rarity stopped her sewing machine and removed her glasses. Plastering on a saccharin smile, she turned around. Instead of finding a client, a dirty, disheveled filly stood before her. The poor thing was panting so hard, Rarity feared she may collapse at any moment.

"Apple Bloom!" Rarity said, a thick concern dominating her voice. "Good heavens, look at you. Are you all right?"

Apple Bloom shook her head. Still panting, she managed to choke out just three words. Three words that sent an icy chill to Rarity's very core. "Sw-Sweetie Belle… hospital!"

Her heart stopped before painfully constricting in her chest. Another word needn't be spoken. Taking off at a full gallop, she ducked her nose under Apple Bloom, tossing the filly onto her back as she left the boutique at full speed.

Never before had Rarity truly appreciated how lucky she was to live so close to the hospital. It took her only seconds to get there. But as she burst through the door and let Apple Bloom down, what she saw stoked her fears and crushed what fleeting hope she had that everything would be okay.

There stood Rainbow Dash, the pained, sorrowful look on her face said it all. Perhaps worse than seeing the tears in Dash's eyes was seeing the crimson smears all over her forelegs and chest. "I-I'm sorry, Rarity," Rainbow said, her voice cracking as it caught in her throat. "I went as fast as I could, but I-I…" Bowing her head, Dash gave it a shake.

Rarity's breath left her. Her heart pounded in her chest as her voice refused to yield to her will. The room spun, walls and furniture disappearing from sight as her eyes locked onto the red stains on Dash's coat. Finally, with a squeak and a hitch, her words escaped her chest. "Sweetie Belle… is she…?"

"I-I-I don't know," Dash replied, shaking her head again. "When I got there… she wasn't breathing, Rarity."

The color faded from her vision, disappearing into a black void until all that remained was the sickly stain of crimson on blue. Then, that too fell into the black nothing, leaving nothing but a single word reverberating through her last mote of consciousness.

"Rarity!"


	2. Searching for Hope

A pungent, caustic smell burned Rarity's nose. She pulled back, trying in vain to escape the terrible odor. As she did so, her eyes blinked open to a piercing white light. Squinting, shapes appeared from within the light. It was a mare with a nurse's hat.

"Miss, are you all right?" she asked, pulling a hoof with a glass vial away from Rarity's face.

Realizing that she was on the floor, Rarity rolled over and up onto her hooves. "Wh-what…?" Her words failed her as she caught sight of Rainbow Dash using a towel to wipe herself off. It all came rushing back to Rarity as she saw the red stains.

Rarity's heart pounded painfully in her chest, and she whipped back around to face the nurse. Taking the nurse's shoulders in her hooves, Rarity pulled her face close to her own. "Sweetie Belle! Please tell me she's okay!"

The nurse gave her a squeamish smile, wriggling out of Rarity's grasp. "I, um, the filly that was just brought in was taken into emergency surgery. I wish I could tell you more, but that's really all we know at the moment."

"What do you mean, 'that's all you know!'" Rarity shouted at her. "How is she? Is she going to be okay?"

She shook her head again. "All I know is that she was in very serious condition when they brought her in, but we can't know any more until something happens. You have to understand that we can't just go into the operating theater and bother the doctors. We have to just trust that they'll do everything they can."

Rarity stomped a hoof on the smooth tile. "That's not good enough!" she screamed, her voice straining and her eyes brimming with tears.

Ears folding down, the nurse took a step back. "I understand that you're upset, but there really isn't anything I can do. It would only make things worse if we interrupted the surgery."

A cyan hoof landed on Rarity's shoulder, pulling her away from the nurse. "Rarity, there's nothing she can do. J-just take a deep breath."

Rarity turned her desperate glare on Rainbow Dash. "How could this have happened!" Her rage melting under a flood of hot tears, Rarity latched onto Dash. "How could I let this happen?"

Dash wrapped her forelegs around Rarity, running a hoof down her back. "I don't… I didn't get a lot from Scootaloo, but I know this isn't your fault."

"I-I'm sorry!" a small voice squeaked. Rarity and Dash looked over to find Apple Bloom, rivulets of tears wetting her cheeks. "We n-never thought…" Her words fell into incomprehensible sobs.

Dash and Rarity shared a look, and Rarity gave a nod as she tried her best to quell her own sobs. They stepped away from each other, giving Rainbow the opportunity to sweep Apple Bloom up in a hug. The distraught filly buried her head in Dash's chest, despite the remaining stains of blood too stubborn to be wiped away by a towel.

From the safety of Rainbow's embrace, Apple Bloom managed to choke out a single phrase. "Is Sweetie gonna be okay?"

The words, echoing her own fears, brought forth a new sob from Rarity. She quickly joined the embrace, not only to comfort Apple Bloom but to receive her own comfort as well.

That only left Rainbow Dash as the only one that wasn't a blubbering mess. And so it was up to her to answer the difficult question. Sure, she could just lie and say Sweetie would be fine, but that just wouldn't be right. No, Apple Bloom deserved the truth, no matter how painful it may have been.

Licking her lips, Rainbow found the truth left a bitter taste. "You… you heard the nurse," she said, fighting the tightness in her throat, "they're gonna do everything they can to save Sweetie Belle. But… it's bad, and I-I don't know that—if—she's gonna be okay."

Her words only served to elicit more sobs from the duo in her hooves. Just as the waves of emotion threatened to take her under, a familiar burst of light and sound tore her attention away. "Twilight?"

"Scootaloo said Sweetie was in the hospital. Is everything okay?" Twilight asked, trotting over.

Rainbow looked at the fillies in her forelegs before looking back at Twilight and shaking her head.

Twilight held a hoof over her mouth. "O-oh, my goodness. She's not… is she?"

"We don't know," Rainbow said, her voice filled with disdain. "They won't tell us anything."

"What?" Twilight's head turned to the side, toward the nurse.

Breathing a measured sigh, the nurse repeated herself, "She is in surgery. We _cannot_ interrupt the doctors to get any kind of update on the situation."

Twilight turned her attention back to Rainbow and the rest. "Well, how was she when you brought her in? And how did this happen?"

Rainbow shook her head. "I'm a little fuzzy on the details. All I know is she fell off a cliff over at that mountain where we drove off that dragon. I got her here as fast I could but…" Folding her ears down, Dash let her gaze fall away from Twilight. "I mean, I checked her when I got there and… and by then she already wasn't breathing."

"Oh, Rarity, are you—"

"No!" Rarity cut Twilight off, her voice drowning in emotion.

Before Twilight could respond, the doors burst open. In marched a trio of ponies: Sweetie Belle's parents, Hondo and Cookie, with Scootaloo in tow.

"What's going on?" Hondo demanded.

"Is Sweetie okay?" Cookie asked.

Twilight stepped away from the trio. "I-I got this," she insisted, walking over and corralling the duo to a nearby corner.

* * *

After a couple of hours of explanations, excuses, and emotions, everypony found themselves completely drained, especially Rarity. She and her parents had been moved to what they called Sweetie's room. The very notion smacked of mockery, given that the only member of Rarity's immediate family that _wasn't_ there was Sweetie.

Rainbow Dash had left for a much-needed shower over an hour ago and never returned. After coaxing the events leading up to Sweetie's accident from them, they sent the fillies home. Even Twilight left, gone in search of the terrible bird that attacked the Crusaders, lest it hurt somepony else.

That just left Rarity and her parents in the room reserved for Sweetie. The tears and emotions had ebbed away, leaving a relatively benign numbness and a terrified silence. Nopony dared to utter a syllable, lest they shatter the numbness that gave precious little comfort.

No, the clock provided the only sound in the form of a maddening metronome. Rarity glared at it for what must have been the hundredth time. The embodiment of time mocked her. How long would the surgery take? Three hours had passed since Rainbow Dash brought Sweetie in.

A darker, more sinister thought haunted the back of her mind. How long would it take them to let her know if the unthinkable happened to Sweetie Belle? In the dramas, the doctors could keep trying to revive a patient for the better part of an hour. If those were true, and that's a big if, then it could very well be more than an hour before anypony came bearing the worst news.

If Rarity had to sit here even one more minute listening to time tick away, she would surely break down. Stumbling to her hooves, she blurted out the first excuse she could think of to run away. "I just… I need to grab a bite to eat."

Her mother didn't move. Her head stayed buried in her father's shoulder. The only response she got from her father was a small nod of recognition. He didn't even look at her.

And why should he?

 _"Oh, Rarity, one more thing!" Sweetie Belle practically shouted as she stood in front of the door, adjusting her saddlebags. "After school, we're gonna go help a classmate a cutie mark in rock climbing, okay?"_

 _Rarity didn't budge from her workstation. Her eyes stayed locked on the fabrics in front of her. This work had to be done by the end of the week, and she already found herself behind. Having agreed to have Sweetie spend the night certainly didn't help, either._

 _"Mmm-hmm, that's nice," Rarity replied, barely even acknowledging Sweetie's question._

Rarity hadn't uttered a single word about it, but she knew where the blame fell. It wasn't on an innocent little filly that got hurt. It wasn't on her friends. Even the monster that attacked them wasn't responsible. Not entirely. It wasn't that monster's job to keep her safe.

Everything around her blurred. Blinking liberated tears, but did little to clear her vision or her conscience. She tried to focus on the barely-touched tray of food before her. Her trip to the cafeteria and even her getting the food hardly even registered. Reigning in her emotions, she gave a ragged sigh.

 _Clank._

The sound of a tray dropping onto the table stirred Rarity to look at something other than her food. Across from her, a black stallion with a graying yellow mane sat down. This Unicorn bore no dress or white coat like most of the rest of the cafeteria's patrons. Instead, he wore a green gown. "My goodness, you look like ten—no—fifteen miles of bad road."

Who walks up to a lady and says something like that? "Please, I'm not in the mood," Rarity said, barely keeping her voice steady.

"There's only one reason for a pretty young lady to be here by herself, crying in a hospital cafeteria," he said. Using his horn, he took a fork and scooped up some unidentifiable muck from his tray, then pointed it at Rarity. "Somepony you care about is suffering, and there's nothing you can do to ease it. You may not be in the mood, but you _need_ to talk to somepony."

The tears returned, choking her voice. "And what, you're that somepony?" Rarity asked.

A sad, knowing smile spread across his muzzle. Stuffing the fork into his maw, he gave a nod. "Hey," he said after swallowing, "I may not look like it, but I know a thing or two about what you're going through. Let me guess: your thoughts keep going back and forth to worrying about your loved one, and the regrets you have about what you did or didn't do in the past. How you so desperately wish that you had done so much differently."

Rarity shut her eyes, driving fresh tears down her cheeks. Maybe this stallion did know what he was talking about. There was no way she could speak with all the emotion drowning her voice. Instead, she settled on an emphatic nod.

The stallion reached across the table, placing his hoof atop Rarity's. "Why don't you tell me about it? It might make you feel better if you get some of it off your chest."

Withdrawing her hoof, Rarity shook her head. "I—I don't think I can."

"Well, maybe you could start by telling me your name? I'm Short Circuit. Just don't call me 'Shorty,'" Short Circuit said.

Rarity only managed to summon a single word. "Rarity."

After a moment of silence, Circuit rubbed the back of his neck. "Would it help if I told you about my loss?" he asked. Rarity did nothing to reply, so he continued, "I lost my daughter. She never even got her cutie mark."

That got Rarity's attention. She looked up with shimmering eyes, begging him. But did she want him to stop, or to keep going?

Circuit licked his lips. "This was all over a decade ago, now. She drowned, my daughter did. I brought her here and they managed to save her life, but… she never woke up." Sighing, he shook his head. "She spent over a year in a coma, then she, well she just got sick. An opportunistic infection, they called it. And then, just like that, she was gone forever."

"A-a year? You went all that time never knowing…?" Rarity asked, her voice trembling.

"Don't be silly," he said, breathing out a bitter chuckle. "Sure, _they_ told me she'd never wake up, but all that meant was that they couldn't help her. I never gave up. I threw myself into finding a way. Had it not been for that infection…" Stopping in the middle of his tirade, he took a deep breath in before letting it out through his nose. "Sorry about that, Rarity. It still gets me worked up, sometimes."

"It-it's my little sister," Rarity said, finally opening up. "She just got her cutie mark not long ago."

Again, Circuit reached across the table and placed his hoof on Rarity's. Though, this time, she didn't pull away. "What happened?"

"Do you remember that mountain where that dragon roosted? She went climbing on it with her friends. They were attacked by a big bird-thing and… and she fell." Rarity sat up, pulling at her eyelids in a futile attempt to dry her tears before they could spill over. "She's in surgery now, but they won't tell us anything. It's driving me mad. I don't even know if I _want_ to know. I'm so scared that… what if it's the worst news?"

Tears poured down her cheeks, and Rarity choked back a sob. She finally uttered the words plaguing the dark corners of her mind. "It's all my fault. I should never have let her go."

Just as Rarity submitted to her sorrow, her body convulsing with sobs, Hondo burst into the cafeteria. "Rarity! She's out of surgery!"


	3. Hate, Fear, and Pain

Inside the Carousel Boutique, not a single mannequin stood intact. Pieces of them were strewn about the show floor, accompanied by countless discarded scraps of cloth and frayed and torn remnants of dresses and accessories. Needles, threads, even entire bolts of cloth suffered the same fate. They suffered Rarity's vengeful wrath.

Mere minutes ago, they were easy to blame. If it weren't for the fashion show in Canterlot, featuring her, among others, as a great fashion innovator, then she wouldn't have been so busy, so distracted, as to let Sweetie Belle go off to her doom. But after ripping apart, throwing, and smashing everything in the parlor, she ran out of inanimate objects to blame. That only left the true culprit, herself.

Had she just paid more attention to Sweetie, this would have never happened. She never did. There was always another show, another important client. They always took precedent. As if they were actually more important than her little sister.

The familiar chime of the entry bell offered Rarity the hope of having something other than herself to hate. As she spun around, her hopes were dashed as she found a familiar face. "O-oh, Twilight," Rarity croaked, her voice weak and raw. Instead of going over to meet her, Rarity just turned back around to stare at the empty work table before her.

"Rarity, did something happen here?" Twilight asked, carefully stepping around the mess. When Rarity didn't respond, Twilight let it pass, turning instead to a different point of conversation. "I went to the hospital, but they said that visiting hours were over. So I thought that I might find you here."

Rarity still didn't respond.

"I—the nurse talked like Sweetie Belle was… did something happen?" Twilight asked.

"S-she got out of surgery a while ago, but…" Rarity's words trailed off into a foreboding silence.

"But what?" Twilight extended a wing, draping it over Rarity. "What happened?"

Rarity pulled Twilight in, burying her face in Twilight's shoulder. "They said she was hanging by a thread, and if she didn't start to improve soon, then… they said she wouldn't survive the week!"

Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Rarity. "I'm so sorry, Rarity. Is there anything I can—"

"Save her!" Rarity shouted. "Isn't there some magic that can help her?"

Biting her lip, Twilight considered it a moment before shaking her head. "No. Whatever magic exists that can help, I'm sure the doctors are already using it."

Rarity shoved Twilight away, breaking the embrace. "It's not enough! There must be something you can do; you're a princess!"

"This is hard for me, too," Twilight replied, her voice calm and unwavering even as tears gathered in her eyes. "If there was something more I could do, don't you think that I would've already done it?"

"If you can't save her, then—then go back in time and stop this from ever happening! Please, Twilight."

Twilight's ears folded down, and she gave her head a sluggish shake. "I can't. After everything that happened with Starlight—"

Slamming her hoof against the polished floor, Rarity cut Twilight off. A fierce storm raging in Rarity's eyes caught Twilight off guard. "You can't, or you won't?"

At first, Twilight's eyes danced away from Rarity's accusatory glare. Then, she found her resolve. Ears perking, she locked eyes with Rarity. "I won't."

Even before she had asked the question, Rarity knew the answer. That didn't make the words any easier to bear. Teeth gritting, Rarity lifted a hoof toward the door. "Get. Out." Her tone left no room for forgiveness, let alone arguments.

Twilight didn't wither. Her head held high, she curtly turned and started for the door. Halfway there, she paused, looking back over her shoulder to see Rarity still watching, her eyes burning with anger and drowning in unshed tears. "I just stopped by to let you know that the roc that attacked Sweetie Belle has been taken care of."

Breathing out a sigh, Rarity finally looked away. "Is it dead?"

"No," Twilight replied. After a moment without a response from Rarity, Twilight again started for the door. The crippling silence gave way as Twilight reached for the door. It was soft and subdued, but Rarity's quiet sobs reached Twilight's ears. Biting her lip, she opened the door, but try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to just leave. "I-I really do hope Sweetie Belle pulls through."

"Leave!" An already-maimed mannequin smashed into the wall next the door to punctuate Rarity's shout.

* * *

Sleepless nights were nothing new to Rarity. Sometimes she would need to work through the night to make her orders in time. Other times, worry and anxiousness over an event would have her too wound up to sleep. However, this time, the anxiety drove her, not only to another sleepless night but to the brink of her sanity.

The quiet hours in the dark left her to drown in her regret. The silence only served to amplify the punishing thoughts in her head. Thoughts of the damned bird that hurt Sweetie, only to be spared. Thoughts of the magically inclined princess and her refusal to save Sweetie. Thoughts of the sister who failed in her inherent duty to keep a little filly safe.

That night, Rarity met hate. Sure, there existed a great many things she disliked, even loathed, but never before had she experienced the visceral anger, and disgust, and repulsion of unbridled hatred. She hated the bird that threatened Sweetie's very life. She hated that pony so indifferent that she would stand idly by and let Sweetie suffer. Most of all, she hated the pony that made so, so many mistakes. So many times she wasn't there. So many times she had more important things to do. So very many times.

Rarity truly felt hate, and it wasn't a vicious bird or an aloof friend that bore that hatred. It was herself.

The dawn banished the worst of Rarity's thoughts with the hopes of something, anything, other than sitting alone in the dark with her thoughts. That hope alone dragged her from her bed sheets. Unfortunately, visiting hours didn't start with the sun, so Rarity needed to find a way to pass a couple of hours without losing her mind. Fortunately, she just so happened to have a parlor that was completely destroyed. Two hours wouldn't be enough to even get half of that cleaned up.

And it wasn't.

All in all, it took Rarity nearly six hours to get everything cleaned up, repaired, and dusted to a sparkling shine. She just needed to finish the task was the lie she kept telling herself. The bitter truth was that she didn't want to go. She didn't want to hear again that Sweetie was dying. And she certainly didn't want to look into her parents' eyes and beg their forgiveness for failing them; for failing Sweetie.

But as the blazing sun drew high in the sky, Rarity found herself bereft of excuses to stay. She even teased the idea of opening the boutique in hopes of distracting herself with a few customers, but then realized it was that very act that threatened Sweetie's life. The thought left a taste in her mouth more bitter than bile.

Just as she thought to resign herself to her fate, the entry bell chimed, heralding a visitor. She had half a mind to welcome her visitor and the distraction they brought while the other half jumped at the opportunity to take her frustrations out on whatever pony dared to disturb her. That latter half evaporated as Rarity re-entered her parlor to find a yellow Pegasus standing in the doorway.

"Fluttershy," Rarity croaked, her voice tired and strained.

"Rarity, I was worried about you," Fluttershy replied, a strained smile on her lips. "Are you okay?"

Clearing her throat, Rarity replied with a simple "no."

"I went to the hospital. I could hardly believe that you weren't there with Sweetie Belle," Fluttershy said, trotting over. Reaching out a wing, she draped it over Rarity's shoulders. "Why are you still here?"

At first, Rarity started to pull away, but the urge to push Fluttershy away was overshadowed by the trifling comfort the warm wing offered. She settled on a happy medium, keeping a healthy gap between her shoulder and Fluttershy's. "I… I want to be there for Sweetie Belle. I really do," Rarity confessed, her eyes finding the floor between her hooves inexplicably entrancing.

Fluttershy allowed a moment of silence pass before coaxing Rarity on. "But…"

"B-but I can't." Rarity shook her head, tears spilling anew. Ragged breaths grew into restrained sobs. "I can't see her like that, and I… I know what they'll tell me. I can't hear that news, Fluttershy. I can't."

Fluttershy took a deep breath in before letting it out through her nose. "Sweetie Belle is dying. She doesn't have much time left."

Recoiling away from Fluttershy, Rarity looked up at her, mouth agape, as fresh, hot tears ran down her cheeks. Her first instinct was to accuse Fluttershy of lying. To beg her that such a thing couldn't be true. But there was a reason she didn't dare go to the hospital. Deep in her heart, a dark whisper tore at her. Overnight it had grown into a cacophonous symphony—mocking her failure as a sister—of the bitter truth.

Fluttershy wouldn't lie. More importantly, she _wasn't_ lying.

"Why?" Rarity breathed out in little more than a whisper. Squeezing her eyes shut to purge her regretful tears, she shouted, "Why would you tell me that!" Her legs gave out from beneath her, and she surrendered to the insurmountable pain in her chest, descending into wails.

Fluttershy joined Rarity on the floor, again blanketing the Unicorn with a warm, delicate wing. "Sweetie Belle needs you. And you need to be there for her," she softly spoke. "If those words were what kept you away… you needed to hear them so you can go there and be by her side."

Shuddering and convulsing, Rarity wept as she buried her face in Fluttershy's shoulder. The angry, sorrowful wails kept her from articulating any real words. She wanted to yell at Fluttershy, take out her frustration and despair on the Pegasus, for shattering the delusion that somehow, some way, Sweetie Belle might come out of this all right and everything would turn out okay.

Without that comforting, if imaginary, scenario ripped away from her, the only thing left to Rarity was the repugnant truth. Sweetie Belle would leave her forever. And the only one to blame was herself.

"I-I can't!" Rarity managed to choke out as she clung to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy rubbed Rarity's back with a gentle, soothing hoof. "I know that you're afraid, but you not being there won't stop her from… from leaving us. If you don't go and say your goodbyes, you may never get the chance."

"I can't!" Rarity wailed, shaking her head. "I can't…"

"Rarity, you _need_ to go be with her. You'll never forgive yourself if you're not there when she needs you by her side the most," Fluttershy replied, never pausing in her ministrations.

With a burst of fury, Rarity shoved Fluttershy away and found herself of steady hooves. "No!" she yelled at Fluttershy, hot tears streaming down her face. "Don't you get it? This is _my_ fault! _I'm_ the one that let her go there and get hurt!"

Fluttershy bore Rarity's anger, standing there with ears pinned back. Once Rarity had finished lashing out, Fluttershy stepped forward and swiped the wetness from Rarity's cheeks. Calmly, she replied, "Then don't you need to go and tell her that you're sorry?"

A whine escaped Rarity's lips. "Yes!" Finally relenting the last of her hesitation, she threw her forelegs around Fluttershy, clinging to her for dear life as she broke down again into a fit of sobs. Only this time, her incoherent mutterings were laced with apologies.

* * *

"Go on," Fluttershy urged, pressing a wing to Rarity's flank to coax her toward the hospital's front door.

Rarity stumbled forward before turning to look back at Fluttershy with bleary eyes. "Yes, I… thank you, Fluttershy."

Offering a small, sad smile, Fluttershy nodded back at Rarity. "Of course. Now, you need to go and be there for her."

Nodding in turn, Rarity steeled her frayed nerves and stepped forward, into the hospital. The warm light of day left for the harsh, artificial light of the hospital just as the scent of antiseptic assailed Rarity's nose. Even the cold, sterile tile beneath her hooves seemed to scream in unison for her to turn and leave. She wasn't welcome here.

The only things pushing Rarity forward were her conscience and the kind Pegasus waiting just outside. Those two seemed almost nothing compared to the fear and doubt welling up in her chest and haunting her mind. She feared for Sweetie Belle's fate, but she also found herself consumed about facing her parents.

They'd spent hours upon hours together in a tiny room yesterday, and they'd barely spoken to her at all. It didn't take a genius to figure out why: they blamed her for what happened to Sweetie Belle, as well they should have. It was her fault, after all. But all this time the tension had been building up and still nothing. Was this their condemnation? Had they written her off completely? It would be hard to blame them. How could they forgive anypony, even their own daughter, for something like this?

Right now Sweetie Belle was in that room, in that bed, with wires and tubes tethering her to life. And even those wouldn't save her. Death drew near for the filly, and the only one to blame was herself. Her parents would resent her for it. Who wouldn't?

Before she knew it, her hooves had brought her to Sweetie's room. By some miracle, the door remained closed, hiding behind it both her sister's fate and her parents' rancor. Everything that Rarity feared only contained from her by a single door. Her stomach churned and protested as her eyes fell on the handle. Could she really remove that shroud? The last barrier between her and the repugnant truth she so desperately hoped to be a lie?

Her hoof rose from the ground, but after only a few inches, shot right back down. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in. And out. Opening her eyes again, she took the latch in her aura but made no move to turn it. After just standing there for several long moments, she dispelled her magic as she looked away.

It was no use. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't do it. She couldn't cast off that last mote of hope that this nightmare wasn't real.

"Well now, if it isn't the pretty mare from yesterday? How did the surgery go?"

Rarity looked up at the familiar voice to find that black stallion from yesterday. Short Circuit. He still wore the same green gown, though this time, he also dragged along a rack with an IV bag dangling from it. It bore a clear fluid that ran down a tube and into the stallion's foreleg.

"That bad, huh?" Short Circuit said as soon as he got a good look at Rarity. "She had to have at least made it. Why would you be here staring at a door otherwise?"

"She… she doesn't have much time left," Rarity croaked, her voice strangled by a sudden absence of air. She admitted it. For the first time, she confessed to that unbearable truth. The reality of the situation crashed down on her. Silent tears streamed down her face.

A hoof gently pressed into Rarity's shoulder. "It hurts. I know."

Sniffling in a most unladylike manner, Rarity swiped at her tears. "I can't. I can't go in there and—and see her with all those tubes and wires… I can't."

"Come on, isn't seeing her, no matter her condition, better than standing here agonizing about it?" Short Circuit replied, his voice soft and understanding. "Take some advice from an old stallion that knows a thing or two about this sort of thing: you'll regret every second you _didn't_ spend with her." Without bothering to let Rarity reply, his horn flared with a yellow aura, and the door opened wide.

Rarity stood statue-still as her eyes met her parents'. Any hope she had to flee from the situation vanished in that very instant. She would have stood there, frozen, forever if not for an unwelcome nudge on her flank. The next thing she knew, Rarity found herself stumbling into Sweetie's hospital room. Prying her eyes away from her parents, her vision swept by Sweetie's bed and landed on the object of her ire. No words came, but her irate glare spoke volumes.

Circuit just smiled in turn. "You can thank me later."

A few hoofsteps drew their attention to Rarity's father. "R-Rarity, we, uh, we were starting to worry you might not come." Behind him, Cookie's gaze fell away to the side.

"Father… mother," Rarity greeted in turn, her tone meek as she pawed at the ground. "I just… had a bit of trouble finding the courage."

Hondo raised a hoof, thrusting it in Circuit's direction. "I take it this fella helped you to find it?"

"Nah," Circuit replied. "I'm just a kindred spirit here to do what I can."

"Kindred spirit?" Rarity's mother said, finally speaking up.

Rarity found herself feeling absurdly abashed. Here she had been so worried about her parents, but they were acting as normal as anypony could expect. No, the real demon haunting her mind was right next to her. Sweetie Belle looked worse than the night before. Before, she held a serene expression behind the mask of tubes giving her breath. Now, she bore a grimace and pallor that could only bear a terrible suffering. A suffering that was Rarity's fault.

An apology. That is what Rarity had come to offer Sweetie Belle. And she'd be damned if she allowed tightness in her throat or weakness in her knees would stop her. Swallowing her fears and steeling her eyes, Rarity stepped over to Sweetie's bedside. Raising a shaking foreleg, Rarity lovingly traced a hoof through Sweetie's mane. The tangled hairs were slick with grease and sweat, and the radiating heat of fever stung Rarity's hoof.

Trembling, Rarity's chin lowered. Her breath carried but two words. Two words that burst the dam holding back all of Rarity's guilt and sorrow. "I'm sorry." The words reverberated through her mind as a thousand regrets tore free. So many times had Sweetie botched her efforts to endear herself to Rarity, only to have her earnest attempts met with scorn and derision. So many times had Sweetie hinted, asked, even begged for just a bit of attention, only to be swept aside.

"I'll just make it up to her," Rarity always told herself. Later. Tomorrow. Next time.

Now, next time would never come. For Sweetie, even tomorrow might not come. Worse, her anguished apologies couldn't reach Sweetie Belle's ears. Sweetie couldn't hear Rarity's begging for forgiveness. She couldn't feel her anguish. She would never know her regret. And it was all Rarity's fault.

No longer could Rarity hold back the tears or tame the squeezing in her throat. She buried her face in the sheets by Sweetie's face, too afraid to actually take hold of the frail filly, lest she cause Sweetie any more pain. The empty apologies continued, only to descend into incomprehensible sobs.

The anguished wails finally drew Short Circuit away from Rarity's parents. The duo warmed to him quite quickly once they had learned he had gone through something similar. From him, they hoped to learn about their own future and the nature of the pain of loss. They wanted to hear that the pain will go away and that things eventually go back to normal. They wanted lies.

Turning around, Short Circuit moved to comfort Rarity. He rounded Sweetie's bed, though seeing Sweetie at all beneath the sheets and tubes proved difficult. Stepping over by Rarity, he put a hoof on her shoulder. She didn't recoil, but neither did she throw herself into his forelegs. "I'd take your grief if I could."

At first, he thought it was just a flashback. A trick of the light. For a moment, Circuit saw his daughter, lying motionless in a hospital bed as the infection ravaged her body. Blinking did little to dissuade the haunting memories. No, it wasn't a trick of the light. The little filly in the bed was little short of his daughter's doppelganger. The mane was a little different, but she looked just like _her_.

Unable to stand it for even another second, Circuit found himself stumbling toward the door. It was only then that he realized that there were shouts, though they sounded little more than murmurs behind the mounting cacophony of his heart and lungs. He made it to the door, and another two or three steps, but that was all his failing body could manage. Leaning against the wall, he slid down until he found himself sitting on the floor. Distance did little to stem the torrent of memories, plunging him into a chasm of black despair.

* * *

Hours passed, and Rarity found herself sitting outside Sweetie's room. Her tears and anger had exhausted her emotions, and so she sat, lamenting her quiet despair. Even the din of a dozen hoofsteps did not stir her, at least not until she heard a familiar voice. "Oh! There she is!" An energetic, shrill voice boomed. Though the voice quickly tempered into a more morose tone. "...and she doesn't look so good."

Rarity looked up as all of her friends approached. All but one. Conspicuously absent was one pony princess, and Rarity found that to be perfectly fine.

A tense silence began to dominate as even Pinkie Pie struggled to find words. Finally, it was Applejack who cleared her throat and banished the silence. "Hey, sugarcube. Uh, Fluttershy done told us what all's goin' on. We reckoned yah could do with some support about now."

"We would've been here sooner, but we also thought you might need some alone time, too," Pinkie added, doing well to stifle her usual enthusiasm. "You didn't need more alone time, did you?"

Rarity shook her head but made no effort to speak. Even just looking up at her friends was nearly impossible. Instead of feeling her friends' support, all she felt was shame. Here they were, proffering solace to the mare responsible for the tragedy in the first place.

"Um, maybe she needs a bit of space," Fluttershy said. She pressed a wing to Pinkie's flank, guiding her into Sweetie's room.

Even with half the crowd gone, Rarity still just sat there, the weight of her guilt pulling her gaze to the floor.

Removing her hat and holding down at her chest, Applejack did her best to break silence's reign, "I'm right sorry about what happened to Sweetie. We all are."

"Not as sorry as me!" Rainbow choked out, her voice wavering in her throat. Swiping at her wet eyes, Dash did all she could to stifle her sobs. "When Scootaloo ran up to me freaking out, I couldn't figure out what was going on. If I'd understood a little quicker, if I'd flown a little faster, then maybe… I'm so sorry. I-it's my fault."

Rarity replied in little more than a whisper, her voice hoarse and raw, "No. It's my fault. I should never have let her go."

"Hey, you ain't the only one kickin' yourself about lettin' those fillies up on that mountain," Applejack said, a stern resentment in her voice. Adjusting the hat atop her head, she glanced over at Dash. "I'm sure Rainbow's just as torn up about it."

A bit of Rarity's self-loathing melted into anger. For the first time in what seemed like a long time, she had something tangible to blame other than herself. But, for her emotion-stricken state and a whole lot of blame still on her shoulders, she didn't lash out. She just felt a little less disgusted with herself, that maybe she wasn't the worst sister in Equestria after all.

"I-I can't take this!" Dash blurted out. With a flap of her wings, she flew off the ground and started down the hall.

Applejack gave chase, catching her as she tried to open a window. "What the hay's gotten into you?" Applejack said in a hushed shout, pulling Dash back to the floor. "We're supposed to be here to support Rarity." A small sigh exited her nose as she added, "Pay our respects."

"I can't," Dash cried, shaking her head. "I can't… I failed everyone."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Applejack said as she drew a foreleg across the Pegasus's shoulders. "It… it was probably too late by the time Scootaloo got word to you, and you can't go and blame the fillies, either."

Dash pushed Applejack away. "Scootaloo blames herself. And she hates me!"

"What're you talkin' about? That filly adores you," Applejack replied.

"I always told her that it was okay that she couldn't fly," Dash said, her voice trembling. "I convinced her it didn't matter… it mattered." An angry flick of her tail and Rainbow continued, "She wanted me to work with her more on her flying. If-if I'd made the time then maybe—"

"Nonsense," Rarity finally spoke up again. Though still weak with fatigue, her voice remained steady. "She can't even get herself off the ground. Nothing could've helped her catch Sweetie. It's not her fault." Rarity's eyes drifted to the floor and her ears drooped as she drew a ragged breath. "She's not the one to blame."

Applejack placed a hoof on Rarity's shoulder, though she didn't even seem to register the contact. "You ain't the one to blame, either, Sugarcube."

Shrugging off the hoof, Rarity glared up at Applejack. "Lying doesn't suit you."

Applejack didn't wither. "It's the truth, even if you don't wanna hear it. Now I don't know what's goin' on in that pretty little head of yours, but you can't keep on beatin' yourself up like this."

"But I—"

"You what?" Applejack snapped at Rarity. "You let her go up on that mountain? Don't you know Dash and I made that same decision? They're always goin' off and gettin' into trouble. There's no way any of us could've known that… that it would've ended up like this."

"I failed her," Rarity said. "You and Dash didn't fail Apple Bloom or Scootaloo. They're both home safe. But Sweetie… she's…"

"Rarity!" Pinkie exclaimed as she stuck her head out of Sweetie's room. A quick glance down the hall, and she took off toward her ailing friend, sliding just a bit at the start on the smooth tile. Pinkie all but tackled Rarity as she wrapped her up in a hug. "Why didn't you tell us? I'm so sorry!"

"Oh my goodness," Fluttershy muttered as she flew after Pinkie at a much more restrained pace. "We just heard the news."

Though Rarity barely made a move in Pinkie's iron grip, both Dash's and Applejack's eyes widened. "Y-y-you don't mean…" Dash squeaked out.

"Oh, no," Fluttershy said as she landed by her friends. "Not that." Sighing a dainty sigh, her ears drooped. "Not yet, anyway."

Applejack found her breath, "Just what do yah mean, 'not yet?'"

"If I don't do something. Find some way," Rarity said as Pinkie finally let go and stepped back. "Sweetie will die by tomorrow morning."

"You can't possibly know that," Applejack said, holding up a hoof. "Maybe the doctors might—" Her words ceased as Fluttershy pressed a hoof into Applejack's side. A shake of Fluttershy's head urged Applejack to listen.

"The only thing keeping her alive right now are those machines," Rarity said, her voice trembling. "Mother and father are taking her off of them first thing in the morning."

"Oh, Rare," Applejack said, pulling the brim of her hat low over her face. "Why didn't yah say anything?"

Rarity's hind legs buckled as she sat, hanging her head. She spoke, her voice raspy, "What am I to do?" It took all she had to resist the weakness her knees, begging to throw herself on the floor to wallow in her sorrow. "I argued with mother and father for who-knows-how-long to give it more time, and even the doctor said that… that she might not even make it to tomorrow morning."

Swooping in, Fluttershy draped a wing over Rarity's shoulders as the Unicorn swayed, threatening to collapse. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Dash swooped in as well, offering their support to keep Rarity upright and stymy her burgeoning tears. "Is there anything at all that we can do?" Fluttershy asked, her voice soft and steady.

Eyes closing, Rarity leaned into the collective embrace. "I've just… I've been sitting here trying to think of how I could save her," she replied. "How I could've prevented it." Breathing a ragged breath, she continued, "I just… I want her to be okay. It's impossible, I know, but I'd give anything for her to be okay. Please, just… just tell me that there is still some way to save her. Tell me it's a nightmare and I'll wake up soon. Tell me I've gone completely mad and none of this is real. Please…"

The group sent glances to each other, pleading silently for the words to say. As the lingering silence grew painful, Applejack finally spoke, "You're askin' us to lie to yah, and we just can't do that."

"It's too late, Rarity," Fluttershy said. "I don't think anypony can save Sweetie Belle now."

"Twilight could!" Rarity barked.

Pinkie patted Rarity's back. "Hey, I'm sure if Twilight had some super-magic spell that would save Sweetie, she totally would've used it by now." Rarity's head snapped up and she sent Pinkie a cold glare. Pinkie withered, weakly continuing, "You know… probably, maybe."

"Um, excuse me," a new voice sounded, urging the cluster of ponies to separate from their embrace. There, stood a nurse wearing a cautious smile. "Visiting hours will be over soon. I'll have to ask you to finish up your visits here."

As the nurse stepped away, all eyes fell on Rarity. Though she refused to budge from her seat on the floor, she still wilted under the collective stare. "I-I don't… I don't know if I can," she said, her gaze flitting to the door to Sweetie's room.

"You gotta," Rainbow said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Up you go," Applejack said, nudging Rarity's flank with her snout. Although Rarity rose, she didn't move a single step toward Sweetie's room.

Fluttershy spread a wing over Rarity's shoulders, pushing her forward. "You'll regret it if you don't spend every second you have left with her, and you know it."

Rarity said nothing, though her hooves finally trudged forward, bringing her closer to the door. After reaching the door, she paused to look back. All of her friends stood there looking back at her, though not one smile of reassurance could be found. Instead, they all wore sullen, uncertain expressions that surely mirrored her own. "Th-thank you," she finally said before turning the knob with her magic and disappearing into Sweetie's room.

"What… what do we do now?" Pinkie said just after the door closed behind Rarity.

"She's going to need a lot of support," Fluttershy said, "but do you think she wants space right now?"

Applejack sighed. "All I know right now is that I told Apple Bloom I'd bring her by tomorrow to visit. I ain't got a clue how I'm supposed to break the news to her."

"Scootaloo's never gonna forgive herself now," Dash muttered.

"Is-is there really nothing we can do?" Pinkie asked, standing up and moving to the center of the group. "I mean, we've done tons of amazing things. Isn't there some way we could save her?" Applejack and Fluttershy looked away, their gazes low. "Anypony?"

Grunting, Rainbow Dash launched herself off the floor and zipped out the window without a word.

"Anypony?"


	4. Desperate Gambit

"I'm so sorry," Nurse Tenderheart said as she escorted Rarity out of Sweetie's room. "When you come back tomorrow morning, just let the nurse at the desk know and she'll escort you back up here, okay?"

"Can't I stay here with Mother and Father?" Rarity asked, the words burning her parched and strained throat.

"I'm sorry," the nurse repeated. "They need to stay in case any decisions need to be made before morning, but we can't let anypony else stay. It's against protocol."

Rarity struggled to come up some reason, any reason, to stay, but her sleep-deprived mind and frayed emotions just left her standing there, staring. The nurse nudged her, and Rarity's hooves began to take her away. Plodding forward Rarity dreaded going home despite the siren call of her bed. Sleep would bring tomorrow, and tomorrow was the most frightening thing in Rarity's world.

No, not tomorrow. Time.

And the one pony with the power to sway time refused to help. Her so-called friend refused to save Sweetie even as seconds ticked away like years on her life. In the back of her mind, Rarity knew Twilight wouldn't refuse her so without a good reason. Without a great reason. But still, what reason could possibly exist that outweighed a life? Especially the ebullient life that belonged to Sweetie Belle.

Maybe if Rarity went to the castle, she could beg or bargain for Twilight to twist time and bring Sweetie back from the brink.

Rarity stopped her plodding to sigh. Twilight wouldn't be swayed. Not in a situation like this. Worse, Twilight was nothing if not thorough. Starlight would've already been given strict instructions not to go back in time to save Sweetie, and she wouldn't so easily disobey Twilight, either.

"Did you stop by to say goodnight to an old man in the twilight of his days?" a voice playfully called out.

Glancing over, Rarity herself standing just outside Short Circuit's room. The stallion in question lay in his bed, several IVs hooked up to his foreleg. What little of his youth Rarity witnessed earlier vanished before this tired, old stallion. His welcoming smile looked more like a grimace.

Still, going home to wait for tomorrow wasn't exactly high on Rarity's to-do list. In fact, she'd do almost anything else, including staying well beyond her welcome in this sterile reminder of death and disease. "Visiting hours are over," Rarity said as she walked in, head hung low. "They're kicking me out."

Short Circuit took the door in his magical aura, closing it behind Rarity. "What they don't know won't hurt them." He glanced over at his IV rack. "I'd say we've got a good fifteen minutes before the nurse comes in to scold us," he said, turning back to face Rarity with a wink.

Coming to a stop, Rarity kept her gaze away from Short Circuit. "What-what did you do when you knew… you knew there wasn't any time left?"

He sighed. "I was a damned fool. Even though I knew… every fiber of my being knew that I'd never make it in time, I just kept trying to engineer a way to save her. Right up until they came knocking on my door, telling me she had passed."

Tearing her gaze away from the floor, Rarity finally looked Short Circuit in the eye. "You weren't even there at her side?"

A small smile on his lips, he shook his head. "Like I said: I was a damned fool."

"H-how could you…? Did you even care about her at all?" Rarity spat.

Rarity watched as Circuit's dull, gentle eyes shifted into a hateful glare. A sensation of frozen electricity raced down Rarity's spine as a wave of abject fear crashed over her. An instinctive step back and the look had already passed, although the unpleasant emotion lingered in Rarity's heart. "I-I'm sorry," Rarity finally stated, abashed. Her gaze cast away. "I had no place…"

"It's all right," Short Circuit replied with a sigh. Though his gaze softened, the warmth and kindness Rarity once saw didn't return—just that cold jolt. "I was a lot like you, you know."

This time, it was Rarity's turn to send a hateful glare. Though Short Circuit didn't seem to be phased in the least. A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "What's with that face? You don't agree, or do you not like the truth?"

"I'll be there. At her side," Rarity said with authority and conviction.

Circuit nodded. "As you should be. But that's not what I was talking about."

Rarity relaxed, only in that moment realizing that her jaw had been clenched tight. Her tone softened, "T-then what?"

"That bitter anger. The unyielding defiance of fate," he said, his words piercing Rarity's shell. "It blinded me, you know. I kept telling myself that if there is even the tiniest mote of a chance to save her, that I should keep going. That nothing else mattered, even when I knew time was running out."

"Time." The very word burned Rarity's lips with all the fire of her searing rancor. "Time is something Sweetie Belle doesn't have anymore."

With a grimace, Short Circuit sat up. "What? The way you were talking, I thought… S-she's not… is she?"

Rarity shook her head. "Not yet. But my parents are taking her off of the machines first thing in the morning." Tears bit at her eyes as she clenched her teeth. "They never even asked me about it."

"I-I'm sorry," Short Circuit said as he relaxed back into his bed.

"I'd give anything to save her," Rarity said as she sat there at the bedside, resting her weary head against the cool mattress. "If only there were a way…"

Rarity's eyes fluttered as her fatigue overtook her. As Short Circuit watched Rarity softly doze, he couldn't help but to remember the sight of that filly that reminded him so of his own daughter. In the end, he couldn't save her, but Sweetie Belle was still alive, at least for the moment. Hesitating just a moment, he reached out and stroked Rarity's mane.

Blinking, Rarity straightened back up. "Let me ask you something," Short Circuit said, staring at her with those cold eyes. "Just how far would you go to save her?"

Rarity didn't balk. "I told you already: I'd do anything."

"Would you?" he asked, his gaze never faltering. "If it meant saving her mind, her personality, her very spirit, would you _kill_ her?"

In an instant, Rarity shot to her hooves. "Wha—Sweetie dying is the last thing I want!"

Short Circuit snorted a chuckle, shaking his head just a bit. "Forget I said anything. Just an old fool rambling…" He relaxed back into his bed with a sigh. "Dying isn't so bad, I guess."

The initial shock ebbed away from Rarity's body, leaving a thumping heart and gasping lungs behind. Her thoughts raced back and forth between Sweetie's imminent fate and the recalcitrant ponies she had little hope of swaying. Surely Twilight would not change her mind, and Starlight wouldn't dare defy her mentor. Without them, what hope did she have?

Her eyes rested again on the sickly stallion before her. Even if she could take a stand and get her parents to reconsider taking her off the machines, Death would still claim Sweetie in a matter of hours. Even if it were just a small part of Sweetie, shouldn't she still try to save her?

"Can… can you save her, or not?" Rarity asked, her eyes searing into Short Circuit.

He made no effort to look over at Rarity, instead choosing to continue to stare at the white ceiling. "Fragile things, these bodies of ours," he said, a small, sad smile gracing his muzzle. "I learned that secondhoof with my daughter. And now… you know, it's not so bad when it's yourself. Dying, I mean."

Those words surprised Rarity. Sure, she knew he was old. She knew he was sick. But she never would have guessed a pony so full of spunk would be dying. Still, the news stirred little empathy from the emotionally-drained mare. "Sweetie Belle isn't you."

"I can't promise you the moon," Short Circuit said as he finally looked back to Rarity. A smug smile graced his lips. "But together, we just might be able to fool to the Reaper."

"Tell me, with absolute certainty, that this will work."

"No guarantees," he coolly replied. "But it's a pretty good shot. I'd bet on it."

Rarity glanced away before turning back with a renewed resolve. "What do I need to do?"

* * *

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity shouted, only to start coughing. She'd been standing here in the middle of the night, shouting up at Rainbow's house for the better part of twenty minutes. Either she was fast asleep, or she wasn't even there at all. Either way, Rarity found it best to resign. Rainbow Dash might've been her first choice, but it certainly wasn't her only choice.

Turning, she started walking toward Sweet Apple Acres. In the dead of the night, those orchards were more than a little intimidating, but nothing would deter her. Short Circuit said that he could help, but all the equipment was at his house. So they would have to spirit Sweetie Belle away, and that would require at least a little more help. Rainbow Dash was the perfect candidate. She was strong, had a vested interest in saving Sweetie, and she could be trusted not to let word slip to a certain lilac Alicorn. Only one other pony met those requirements, and that was Applejack. Rarity just hoped that Applejack would be willing to go as far as she was.

This was the end of the line. The final resort. Short Circuit said it would be the end for Sweetie's body, but it could save her mind and spirit. He refused to go into more detail, but he promised it would work. He swore he would save her. And, even if it was merely the word of a virtual stranger, Rarity didn't have anything else left to believe in. Sweetie would perish by dawn and she was left with nothing else to change that outcome. Nothing but the promise of a dying stallion. To find that fleeting mote of hope, Rarity would stop at nothing. Even if it meant breaking the law. Even if it meant stealing away an ailing filly from a hospital. Even if it meant killing her sister herself… if there was a chance to save any part of her, she had to take it. And that's what she kept telling herself. Her mantra.

Before long, Rarity had arrived at the Apple Homestead. The full moon's light reflected off of the darkened windows, casting shadowed reflections of the blackened orchards back at Rarity's weary eyes. Surely not a soul stirred within, and she needed but one. But which eerily gleaming window hid her? For the life of her, she couldn't remember a time she'd actually been in Applejack's room. Worse, she knew at the very least that all the bedrooms were on the upper floor. Peering through windows like some sort of deranged peeping tom would be perfectly pointless.

With little other choice, she grabbed a pebble in her aura and brought it to the nearest second-story window. Worst-case scenario, she would be forced to apologize to somepony other than Applejack and ask which window to rap on next. With a fair bit of force, she bought the stone to the glass to elicit a short series of high-pitched impacts.

A few seconds passed. It was entirely possible that this particular window rested in an empty hallway. A few more seconds, and still no answer came. Could the knocks have been too quiet? They certainly seemed more than loud enough to Rarity's discerning ears. Again, Rarity bashed the stone on the glass, this time with enough force to sting her ears and bring the window perilously close to shattering.

Before Rarity had finished her series of strikes, the window thrust open with enough force to startle Rarity into dropping the pebble. A stetson-clad head appeared, and after glancing around for a few moments, settled its gaze on Rarity.

"Rare? What the hay are yah doin' all the way out here this time of night?"

For a moment, Rarity found herself completely speechless. She'd come all this way and gone this far but had completely neglected how she might actually ask Applejack to do something so dire. So she said all she could muster with a terse, honest statement, "I need to speak with you, please."

Applejack pulled back as her eyes flitted away. Then, she leaned back out and gave Rarity a firm nod before vanishing and shutting the window. The crisp sound of the window closing barely registered with Rarity as she scrambled with how to broach such a difficult conversation.

By the time Applejack emerged, easing the door shut in the quiet of the night, Rarity had only come to one concrete decision. She needed to make sure that, even if Applejack refused to help, that she would not stop her from what needed to be done.

"I need your help," Rarity blurted out before Applejack could say anything.

"S-sure thing, Sugarcube," Applejack replied. She pulled on the brim of her hat. "I, uh, I take it this is about Sweetie. She… she's still on this side of the river Styx, isn't she?"

Rarity bit her lip, nodding just a bit. "She doesn't have much time. That's why I need your help."

Holding up a hoof, Applejack replied, "I'll help yah anyway I can, but I just don't see what all I can really do."

"Before I ask, I want you to make a promise," Rarity said before taking a deliberate pause to gauge Applejack's response. A raised eyebrow was all Rarity got in return. "I want you to promise me that, even if you refuse to help, even if you think what I'm doing is crazy or wrong, you won't tell anypony what I'm going to do. Especially Twilight. Can you promise me that?"

Applejack hesitated. Her eyes flitted away before she came back with a firm stare. "You have my word."

Rarity sighed in relief. "Good."

"S-so what's this all about?" Applejack asked, her voice betraying her doubts.

"Sweetie is dying," Rarity said, a burning numbness jolting through her as she spoke the words aloud. "I met a stallion that says… he says that her body is too far gone to save, but he can save her. Her mind, her memories, her very spirit. He can save her."

Applejack leaned over, placing a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "R-Rare, are yah even listenin' to yourself? How is it savin' her if she dies? And how much do you even know about this stallion?"

Rarity swatted the hoof away. "I know that he is the only pony who is both willing and able to help me save Sweetie Belle. And that's _all_ I need to know."

Letting out a long sigh, Applejack pawed at the ground. "Look, even out here in the dark I can tell that you're plumb tired, and I don't even wanna think about what kind of sufferin' yer goin' through." Tugging her hat, Applejack tugged her bottom lip with her teeth. "Say I agree to help. How exactly is this supposed to work? Why do yah need my help?"

Clearing her throat, Rarity turned her eyes back toward Ponyville. "He says he can save her, but he can't move his equipment. It's in his house—not far from the hospital."

"Rarity, I saw Sweetie Belle earlier. You can't just move her. She's too sick."

"That's what the hospital would say, and my parents wouldn't stand for it, either," Rarity replied as she finally looked back to Applejack. "We… I cannot carry her there on my own. I need help to… to spirit her away from the hospital."

Applejack's mouth fell open. "Y-you can't be serious! She'll die!"

"Don't you understand? She's only got until tomorrow morning if she even makes it that long," Rarity argued. "She's going to die either way. At least this way… this way she has a _chance_."

"Are yah even hearin' yourself? You sound like a mad mare."

"You think that I don't know how this sounds?" Rarity bit back. "Can't you understand? What if it were Apple Bloom's life hanging by a frayed thread? Wouldn't you do everything you could to save her? Wouldn't you do _anything_?"

Applejack stared back at Rarity's wide, bloodshot eyes. "No."

"Liar!" Rarity screamed as she stamped a hoof.

Aside from her ears shifting back, Applejack made no move. "In your desperation, have you stopped even once to ask yourself: what would Sweetie Belle want?"

"She would want to live!" Rarity replied, all too quickly.

"Even if that meant you might bring yourself to ruin?" Applejack leaned in, poking Rarity with a hoof. " What happens if this doesn't work? What would the hospital say? What would your folks say?" Pulling a curt turn to Rarity, Applejack walked off a few steps before spinning around again. "No way Sweetie would want you to risk all that for her."

Rarity's ears drooped for but a moment before the fire returned to her eyes. "It doesn't matter. This is what I want. I have to do this, Applejack. Surely you can understand."

Applejack's jaw sawed back and forth as she ground her teeth. "What if it were you in that bed?" she asked, her voice low, slow, and serious. "What then? Would you really want Sweetie Belle to risk everything for some small chance to save you? Wouldn't you want for somepony to _stop_ her?"

Rarity's fierce glare captured Applejack's eyes. "You promised," she growled.

Instead of backing down, Applejack squared up to Rarity. "I promised not to tell Twilight, and I won't."

Stepping back, Rarity cast a glance to the side. Then, she sharply turned and bolted into the orchards!

It took Applejack a few seconds to register what just occurred. Then it hit her like a fully loaded train. Rarity just ran off to go steal Sweetie Belle from the hospital! Giving chase, it didn't take long for Applejack to spy the ivory Unicorn galumphing through the darkened trails. While Rarity may have had a head start, she also just happened to be a nervous wreck that hadn't had nearly enough sleep. Not to mention these orchards were Applejack's backyard.

In no time, Applejack found herself just behind Rarity as she fled. "Rarity! Stop! Just take a minute and think about you're tryin' to do!"

Applejack's words reached Rarity, as she glanced back over her shoulder. A flash of blue light lit up her face, as she glared back at Applejack. "I haven't stopped thinking about it!" she spat.

A wave of blue crashed into Applejack from the side, sending her tumbling head over hoof to the ground. She had to chase after Rarity and stop her, so Applejack stumbled to her hooves to try to regain her momentum. Two steps and she found the ground again.

Groaning, Applejack took her eyes off of Rarity to find what had tripped her up. What she found were a sea of empty baskets and an overturned cart. Oh, the words she would have for Big Mac when all was said and done for leaving the wagon out again. But there were more pressing matters at hoof. After clearing all the baskets, Applejack cast her gaze about, trying to find Rarity. There was no sign of her.

"Rarity!" Applejack bellowed, her voice vanishing into the darkened orchards. Breathing out a few, deep breaths, she set her sights on the direction she last saw Rarity. With a newfound focus, she pulled her brim low and galloped into the darkness.

It didn't take long before Applejack realized her folly. She chased after shadows and shouted to nothingness. Panting, she slowed to a stop as her mind continued to race. Rarity gave her the slip. That much was crystal clear. But Rarity still had to be stopped before she went and made the worst mistake.

Applejack's eyes widened. While she didn't have a clue where Rarity disappeared to, she knew exactly where she would go. She just had to beat her there.

* * *

Applejack had hoped to run Rarity down long before entering Ponyville, let alone reaching the hospital. But even as she approached the towering building, there was still no sign of Rarity. It didn't stand to reason that she'd have passed Rarity up. Which meant that Rarity already headed inside, or worse, she'd already absconded with Sweetie Belle. In any case, Applejack had to go inside to check. She just prayed that Sweetie Belle was still inside.

Just as she reached the corner to turn to the front of the hospital, a flash of blue caught the corner of her eye. Applejack stopped dead in her tracks before turning about. Sure enough, a blob of glowing blue floated out of a second story window. "No," Applejack muttered, as she found herself drawn to the soft glow as if it were a will-o-the-wisp, "no, no, no, no!"

She reached the bundle just as it gingerly touched down on the ground. Just as she feared, Applejack found Sweetie Belle before her. Sickly. Still.

Reaching out a hoof, she gently felt Sweetie's chest. It was warm and slick with sweat. One second passed. Then two. And three. Still, Applejack felt no motion. No breathing.

"Step aside!"

Applejack recoiled at the sharp, hushed shout. Just as she did, Rarity swooped in, attaching a large, rubber bulb to a tube in Sweetie's mouth. The blue glow squeezed the bulb, and Sweetie's chest rose in response.

"Rarity! What have you done!" Applejack hissed.

Rarity glared back at Applejack with those icy blue eyes. "Help me, or step aside," she said, her voice devoid of compassion. Lifting Sweetie in her aura, Rarity hoisted the filly up on her back, all the while working the bulb that facilitated Sweetie's breathing. She tried to flee into the night, but the coordination required to keep Sweetie on her back and work the breathing apparatus forced her to step slowly.

A light above preceded a ruckus. What little Applejack could make of the distorted shouts told her that Sweetie's abduction had already been discovered. Any chance of getting Sweetie back into her hospital bed without anypony knowing just went up in smoke. So too, was any hope of Rarity avoiding the ensuing consequences. In fact, the only way this wouldn't end horribly for Rarity would be if, by some miracle, this stallion really could save Sweetie Belle.

"Consarnit! You were hoping it would turn out like this!" Applejack hissed as she ducked behind a tree to avoid being seen by the ponies now desperately searching for Sweetie. For her part, Rarity was still slowly working her way away from the hospital. She'd never make a getaway like that.

A quick glance about and Applejack found a cart sitting nearby. Rushing over, she hooked herself up before galloping over to Rarity. "Get in," she said as she pulled the cart in front of Rarity. After hesitating for but a moment, Rarity levitated Sweetie in before hopping in herself.


End file.
